Fiber-cleaning machine.



Patehtad-D'ec. I6 |902..

S. B. & M. E. ALLISON.

C. A. DORRESTElN, Adminigtrator of S. B. ALLISON, Deo'd.

FIBER CLEANING MACHINE.

(Appligation mu; Apr. 15. 1896.)

2 SNeats Shut L (No Model.)

# umtow lj'zzilueelfi-A 216 6070 Mary A [lison 5/ f 6% rrE STATES i PATENT OFFICE.-

SAMUEL B. ALLISON AND MARY E. ALLISON, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA;

O. A. DORRESTEIN ADMINISTRATOR OF SAID SAMUEL B. ALLISON, DE-

CEA SED.

FIBER-CLEANING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 715,736, dated December 16, 1902.

Application filed April 15,1898.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that we, SAMUEL B. ALLISON and MARY E. ALLISON, residents of New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fiber-Cleaning Machines; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to machines for separating the fibrous and woody portions of the leaves or stalks of various plants; and its 0b ject is to increase the efficiency and economy of such machines.

The invention consists in the construction hereinafter described and pointed out.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the machine, portions only of the frame and gearing being indicated. Fig. 2 is a partial section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a partial perspective of a detail. Fig. 4 is a perspective of parts adapted to cooperate with the device indicated in Fig. 3, but separated therefrom.

. Fig. 5 is a broken perspective of stalk-splitting devices. Fig. 6 is a perspective of a splitting-blade. Fig. 7 is a section of an ad- 0 justable bearing. Fig. 8 isa broken perspective showing a portion of a belt and abeltguide.

Numeral 1 denotes a frame, and 2 indicates gearing. These parts are of any usualor suitable form.

3 denotes a feeding-belt, which may be made of metal or any suitable material and driven by the rollers 4 and 5.

6 denotes asecond feeding-belt, made, preferably, of rubber or other flexible elastic material and driven by rollers 7 and 8. The belt 6 is grooved longitudinally, as indicated at 6. The edges separating these grooves push the fiber down off the wood of the stalks, and

for this purpose the upper belt may be run faster than the lower one. The grooved belt separates and guides the stalks fed into the machine and keeps them parallel on the lower belt.

Serial No. 677,763. (No model.)

to guide the belts,'and 11 denotes devices for adjusting the bearings of various shafts,which bearings may be of any suitable form, but will preferably have springs, elastic blocks, or the like to press the sections of the bearings upon the shafts.

Referring to Fig. 7, bearing-blocks are denoted by 42 and elastic blocks by 43, and 44 denotes removable and interchangeable spacing-blocks. By these or equivalent devices the bearings may be adjusted to tighten the belts, or, in other cases, to regulate the distance between-parts that cooperate upon the fiber. This latter function is important, and particularly in the case of the roller or frame carrying the scutching, combing, and brushing devices to be described, which roller is 'provided with means of adjustment in two planes, as indicated,whereby to insure greater accuracy.

9 denotes a roller having longitudinal ribs, the ribs and roller being made of rubber or like elastic material and integral, if desired. The ribs mesh with ribs or bars 3' of the feeding-belt and act in combination there- In this operation, as above stated, the longitudinal ribs of the belt 6 act to separate the fiber and wood of the stalks and also to aline or center the stalks'with respect to the slit ting knives or blades 34, as best'indicated in Figs. 1 and 5, in which 33 denotes a knifebar pressed downwardly at each end by a spring 35. This bar is adapted to be lifted by a lever 41 through the medium of a rod or rods36.

4O denotes the fulcrum of lever 41, and 37 a pin fixed to rod 36 and movable in a slot in the lever.

38 denotes a pin (see Fig. 5) held in a socket in the bar 37, which pin may be pushed into engagement with the frame and held by a spring 39, whereby the rod'36 and its bar 33 may be held in an elevated situation and the splitting-blades supported out of the path of stalks or leaves fed into the machine. The blades 34 have their front edges inclined, as indicated, to enable them more readily to pen- IOO etrate the stalks, and are made thick toward their back edges to fiatten the split stalks, the woody portion being thereby left on the upper side and the fiber below. The stalks thus split on their upper side and opened are flattened and drawn forward by the elastic roller 9,cooperating with the ribbed belt 3, and are presented to the action of the scutching blades, teeth, and brushes to be described. By thus splitting and opening the stalks before they are transversely broken the usual wasteful breaking of the fiber, which occurs in many machines Vi hen the whole stalks are broken transversely, is obviated and eonsid erable loss is avoided. The fiber and the wood of the split and opened stalks are by the splitting and opening or spreading operation arranged with the wood above and the fiber below, and the wood is presented more immediately to the subsequent action of the scutching-blades coacting with bed 32 and is less likely to be forced into and among the fibers, with the effect to break them than without such splitting operation, and I have found it possible by this means to reduce the loss of long fiber to ten or twelve per cent.

13 is an abutmentor block held in the frame and provided with several work ng beds. 9" is a concave bed formed in said block and cooperating with a longitudinally grooved or ribbed roller 9, made of rubber or other suitable substance, to rub the material. The ribs of this roller mesh with similar ribs on the belt 3 to flatten and partially break the stalks split and opened, as stated, and preferably the surface velocity of the roller is greater than that of the belt to draw forward and rub the flattened stalks. The elasticity of roller 9 and its ribs permits the operation described.

The block 13 has a shoulder or edge 9 cooperating with scutching devices to be described.

16 is a rotary frame which carries bars 17. These bars have each a scutching or beating edge 18 and combing-teeth 19, and they also carry brushes 20, made of stiff bristles or fine wire. A working bed cooperating with the breaking edges 18 and with the brushes is indicated at 21, (see Fig. 4,) and 22 represents teeth fixed on the block 13 and meshing with teeth 19 to produce acombing action on the m aterial. The upper combing-teeth are preferably placed about one-half inch behind an edge 18 and about one-fourth of an inch apart. Each tooth of the upper movable group has lengthwisednclined edges, the rear one of which is shorter and more abrupt in its inclination than the forward one, as clearly shown. The lower teeth are curved or inclined in both directions, as indicated. The rear ends of the fixed teeth may be sunk in the block below the highest part of bed 21, as shown.

24 denotes a belt moved by rollers 25 and 26 and carrying angular scutching-bars 27 and intermediate round bars 28. These bars mesh with similar bars carried on a belt 29, driven by rollers 30 and 31, and they rub the fiber as it is moved along by them, with the effect to separate fine refuse.

45 is a plate fixed to the frame and extending over the edge of the belt 24 outside the ends of the rollers and bars in mannerto guide the belt.

In operation the material which is introduced into the machine by the feeding-belt is partially stripped of fiber by ribs 6" and split and opened by blades 34. and flattened by roller 9 and broken on shoulder 9 by blades 18, combed by teeth 23 and 22, and swept by the brushes, which also keep roller 9 clean. The block 13 has adjacent the teeth 22 a bed 32 cooperating with the bars carried by belt 24:, which scutch the sliver and remove the broken wood. The bars carried by belt 2.), situated below the belt 32, and those carried by the upper belt 252 rub the fiber on both sides, which effectuallyremoves the finer particles of wood and other remaining refuse. The belt 29 may be made with open-work to permit refuse to drop through the same. Said latter belt carries the cleaned fiber out of the machine.

The improved devices for flattening the material as it enters the machine do not crush and mix the wood and fiber and neither break the fiber extensively nor force out the juice of the plant, even if green. The breaking edges 18 Will be moved about twice as rapidly as the feeding-belt, and as said edges strike what may be called a tangential or scraping blow directly on the wood of the opened stalks they act to break and separate it from the fiber without injury to the latter. This action, succeeded by the peculiar combing operation and the brushing, removes much of the waste. Its complete removal is efiected by the described devices, which act upon it subsequently.

The various operations are closely continuous around three sides of the bed,and the parts are so situated and combined that the fiber is held constantly throughout its whole length by the mechanism.

Although the feeding-belts and the carrying-off belts are shown oppositely situated in a horizontal plane and the rotary brush and comb-carrying roller is situated above, the particular arrangement is not essential, and this and various mechanical details may be varied provided substantially the same principles of operation and construction are preserved.

Having described our invention, We claim- 1. In a fiber-separating machine the combination of the feeding-belt 3 having transverse ribs and the longitudinally-grooved belt 6, mechanism for moving the belts to break and feed the material, and wood and fiber separating devices, substantially as described.

2. In a fiber-separating machine, the combination of a belt havingtransverse ribs, driving-rollers therefor, a transversely-ribbed roller 9, and a working bed 9" adjacent; said roller 9, substantially as described.

3. In a fiber-separating machine, the com bination ofabelt having transverse ribs, driving-rollers therefor, a transversely-ribbed roller 9,'of elastic material, and a working bed 9 adjacent said roller 9.

4. In a fiber-separating machine, the combination of a block having a bed 21, with a roller carrying breaking-bars having edges 18 and also carrying brushes and combingteeth between the brushes and the bar edges, substantially as described.

5. In a fiber-separating machine, a block having working faces on two opposite sides and an intermediate side having a bed and ribs arranged adjacent the bed, a roller having teeth'adapted to enter between the ribs to comb the fiber, and means cooperating with said working faces for scutching the material.

6. In a fiber-separating machine, a block having a plurality of working faces one of said faces having a bed and ribs arranged adjacent the bed, a roller having teeth adapted to enter between the ribs to comb the fiber, and means cooperating with said working faces for scutching the material.

7. In a fiber-separating machine,devices for feeding stalks thereto, in combination with a plurality of spring-pressed splitting-blades situated closely adjacent each other lengthwise the bar and individually in the path of the bodies of said stalks to split the same in several planes perpendicular to the coacting feeding devices, substantially as described.

8. In a fiber-separating machine,devices for feeding stalks thereto, in combination with a plurality of spring-pressed splitting-blades situated closely adjacent each other lengthwise the bar and individually in the path of the bodies of said stalks to split the same, and a roller to flatten the split stalks, substantially as described.

9. In a fiber-separatin g machin e,devices for feeding stalks thereto, in combination with blades supported in the path of said stalks to split the same, and a roller to flatten the split stalks, said roller having elastic ribs, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SAMUEL B. ALLISON. MARY E. ALLISON.

W'itnesses:

H. W. ROBINSON, D. H. MAYS. 

